I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.
Chapter 12: Anxious and Amorous
Bella leaned against the door with a sigh. The last guest had left and as much as she had enjoyed having everyone over, she was just as glad that they were gone. The La Push boys were staying in a hotel, at their insistence, and making a day of it in Seattle tomorrow. Bella had been secretly relieved that she wouldn't have four huge houseguests. Just the thought of feeding them made her shudder.
Besides, she thought as she watched Edward wandering around and picking up cups and napkins, she had someone else in mind for a sleep over.
She walked up behind him and put her arms around him. As he always did, he dropped whatever he was doing and returned the embrace. That was just one of the things she loved about him, his easy affection. She stood on her toes and tried to place a kiss on his very kissable lips. To her shock, he pulled away and shook his head.
"Oh no," he told her, shaking a finger at her. "No kissing until you explain your little off-the-cuff remark about returning some feelings I expressed to you earlier."
Making a pouting face, she gazed up at him. "What?"
"You know what," he murmured, placing his lips just at the corner of hers. Apparently, that didn't count as kissing – at least in Mr. Cullen's world.
"You mean when I said I wanted another beer?" she teased, whispering in his ear.
He nipped at her earlobe in retaliation. "Nope."
"Uh...when I said I was feeling full?" she guessed.
"Keep trying," he told her. "You're not even getting warmer."
"Hmmm..." she said. "I guess I'll just have to turn my formidable intellect to the problem."
"I guess you will," he advised. His lips trailed up her throat.
"I thought we weren't kissing," she reminded him.
"This isn't kissing," he told her.
"Then what is it?"
"It's caressing your throat with my lips," he replied, his breath warm against her skin.
"Feels like kissing," she countered.
His mouth moved up her throat and grazed her ear, only to settle over her lips. His tongue teased for a moment and then slid in, hot and demanding. With a groan, she opened her mouth more fully and their tongues slid and danced along each other. Finally, he pulled away. "That is a kiss," he said in a husky voice.
"I'm not quite sure I got that," Bella said. "I might need another demonstration."
Edward gave a long suffering sigh. "If I must, I must." Then his mouth was on hers again and he hauled her up against him, his hands on her ass and pressing her close to him.
Together, they fell to the couch which just happened to be handy. He cushioned her fall and made sure he didn't fall on top of her, bracing his weight with his arms. He brushed his thumb along her lip. "Did you mean it?" he asked in a hoarse tone.
"Do you think I'm the type of person who would lie about something like that?" she asked with a smile.
Immediately, he shook his head. "No, but..." He shook his head again.
"What is it?"
"Never mind," he said and moved to kiss her again. This time, she was the one who denied him.
"What?" she prodded gently.
His eyes skittered away from hers for a moment and then returned, bright green and seeming to see through to her soul. "Have you ever wanted something so badly that you're sure you'll never, ever get it because no person on earth can be that lucky?" he asked quietly. "Well, that's how I feel about you loving me."
"Oh wow," she breathed. "That's a pretty good what, Mr. Cullen."
He grinned at her, obviously relieved. Leaning down, he kissed her loudly. When he lifted his head, Sebastian had perched on the back of the couch and was staring at him without blinking.
"Your cat's a voyeur," he told her.
"Yeah, he gets his rocks off by watching," Bella agreed.
"You like to watch?" he teased.
"I've been known to have a little voyeuristic streak myself," she admitted with a wink. "I like to watch you in the mirror on your dresser," she elaborated. "I like to watch your muscles when you're moving inside of me. It turns me on. Especially your ass," she added as she licked up his throat.
"My girl likes a little kink, huh?" he asked.
"Just a little," she said softly, bringing him closer for a kiss. "Just enough to spice things up a bit."
~~AATG~~
."
Bella's birthday was tomorrow and Edward was trying to decide just how to celebrate the occasion. Unlike him, she hadn't had any hang ups about her birthday. Though she had admitted that her mother's birthday was still a difficult day for her, something Edward could understand all too well. So Edward wanted to make sure she knew just how special he thought she was and just how much he loved her.
Her birthday was on a Sunday, which made it easy for him to plan a whole day with her. But he was starting to panic, because he still didn't have a clue what to do for her. He had taken care of the gift, but it was the planning that was getting him anxious.
She had worked last night and instead of going to her place, she had crashed at his. He had woken up early that morning to find her crawling into his bed and curling up next to him before collapsing. He was guessing it had been a tough shift; if it had been, she would want to talk about it later. First, she would have to have something to eat. She didn't like to vent on an empty stomach.
Edward felt a significant weight settle on his lap. "It's not your breakfast time," he told Sebastian. The cat blinked up at him lazily as if to argue the point. Surprisingly, Bella's cat had settled in quite nicely at his place. Now there was a litter pan, a bag of cat food in his pantry, and a cat tree in one corner of the living room. Rose had laughed at that, until he reminded her that she kept Barbies at her place now. That shut her up in a hurry.
Now when Bella or Edward put his carrier on the floor, he'd amble into it and give a meow as if to tell them he was ready to go. Bella said the cat had delusions of grandeur and just thought of Edward's house as his vacation home.
Sebastian had proven to be a good companion, keeping Edward company as he graded papers, though the cat had a tendency to lay on the very papers Edward was trying to grade. Edward would gently shove him to one side but the moment he got up to get a cup of coffee, he'd return to find Sebastian licking himself, sprawled on the very spot he'd been booted from earlier. The cat had no shame.
He spent the morning preparing some lesson plans, grading papers and entering test grades on the class website so that parents could check on their students' progress. It was a productive morning. Around one, Bella stumbled out of his bedroom, her hair a wild mass around her head. She just made her way into the kitchen and Sebastian was hot on her heels in the ever present hope that she would feed him.
The cat was a glutton, no two ways about it.
Edward followed the cat, kind of hoping to score a kiss as much as the cat was hoping to cadge some tuna. They were pretty greedy when it came to Bella.
She was staring into the refrigerator and she was wearing one of his tee-shirts. It had ridden up just enough for him to see that her panties were bright purple. It was a good color on her, he decided.
He moved in behind her and Sebastian bitched because Edward moved him out of the way. Wrapping his arms around her, he buried his face in her messy, tangled hair. "Good afternoon, beautiful," he said.
She gave a grunt and continued looking into the refrigerator. He turned her around and guided her toward the breakfast counter. "Go. Sit. I'll make you something to eat," he ordered. It was the only time he got away with ordering her around. She was adorably befuddled when she first woke up.
"God, that sounds awesome," she said in a sleep husky voice. Once there, she sort of rested her chin on her hands and stared at him as he began preparing her a grilled cheese sandwich, one of her favorite things to eat when she woke up in the afternoon.
"One or two?" he asked, spatula in hand.
"Two," she said. He slid the first one to her on a plate and poured her a glass of Coke with extra ice. She sucked it down and then began devouring her sandwich. "Seriously, you make the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the world."
"That's the only reason you love me, isn't it?" he teased.
Having consumed one sandwich and stared on the second, she gave him a smirk. "Well that, and you're awesome in the sack."
"I feel so used," he lamented.
She motioned him toward her and she wrapped her arms around him. "Don't worry baby, don't worry your pretty little head about it."
He kissed her, tasting the grilled cheese and Bella. He preferred her taste. "I love you," he said.
"How much do you love me?" she asked, darting a glance up at him from beneath her lashes.
"Uh oh, why am I suddenly a little worried?"
"No reason," Bella assured him breezily. "But seriously...how much do you love me?"
"I do better on true/false or multiple choice questions," he said. "The essays kill me."
"Not funny," she said and gave his ass a slap. "God, I love your ass. Sometimes I just want to bite it." She bared her teeth at him.
"Quit trying to change subject and flatter me and spill the beans Nurse Swan."
She made a pouty face. "Okay, okay," she finally said. "So, anyway, my Dad called while I was on my break last night."
"And?" He had a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going.
"And..." she ran her fingers down his chest and then lingered at his belt. Placing a kiss on the corner of his mouth, she then moved to his ear. "And he and Sue and Seth are coming for a visit."
Edward took a deep breath. He had known this was coming and while he didn't exactly dread it, he was certainly a bit anxious about it. Meeting Bella's family was big – it was more than big, it was huge. In fact, he still hadn't met Leah and she lived in Washington. "Okay, when?"
Bella leaned back and grinned. "Wow, that's pretty impressive."
"What?"
"The way you went from panic mode to 'don't worry I've got this covered' mode in about two seconds flat," she said.
"I'm a high school teacher, I'm used to looking cool under pressure," he assured.
"Well good then, because they'll be here the day after tomorrow," she said.
He took another deep breath. "I just remembered that I got called out of the country."
"Really?" she asked, amused.
"Yep, big teaching emergency in...in...uh...someplace far away, really, really far away," he muttered.
"Big teaching emergency, huh?"
"Huge, astronomical, global proportions and all that," he assured her. "Can't be avoided." He kissed her. "Tell your Dad hi." He looked at the cat. "Come on, Sebastian, let's pack." He turned as if to go. The cat did too. He probably thought Edward had a stash of tuna in the bedroom.
"Hold it right there, Mr. Cullen."
He stopped in his tracks. Sebastian did too. They both turned to look at her, though the cat looked decidedly calmer than the man.
"Come here," she said and opened her arms. He found himself enfolded in her embrace. "He's going to love you, so will Sue and Seth. I promise."
"Sure," he said, sounding unconvinced.
"Hey," she said softly. He raised his eyes to look at her. "Are you really nervous about meeting my Dad?"
"Oddly...yes," he admitted. "It just hit me, all of a sudden, like lightning, out of the blue."
"You're adorable when you're nervous," she told him.
Edward grimaced. "Now you make me sound like a puppy."
"I happen to like puppies." Sebastian meowed his disagreement.
Edward turned to the cat. "See? Now you've upset Sebastian." He shook his head. "That's just wrong. You shouldn't upset the cat."
"Well, Edward," Bella said. "I know of something that will help ease those nerves of yours," she said as she slid from the stood and pulled at his belt to get him to follow her.
He liked the direction they were taking because she was making a direct line to the bedroom.
"Oh yeah?" Edward asked.
She pulled him into the bedroom and then pushed him onto the bed, where she tumbled to meet him just a moment later. "Oh yeah," she promised just before her lips found his.
At least, he thought, he wasn't worried about what to do for her birthday anymore.
